Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Practical Magic Notes (#2)

I've had a couple of people ask the same question about where the story is going so I thought I'd do a quick answer here before posting the next section.

Everything that I've posted so far is actually just back story. Which is so weird for me. I never post the back story. But as I was first writing this three years ago, then coming back to it two years ago, then ignoring it all last year, there was a story that I had wanted to tell. It was around Aska and her mother and their relationship but as it related to a "bad guy" out in the world that needed to be stopped. And the bad guy happened to be incredibly similar to the one that caused the death of Aska's father. So as I was filling out those thoughts in my head they all spilled on to the paper.

Which leaves me with two stories (maybe three?) that I am trying to blend in to one. Which is where a lot of the frustration with this piece has been. I don't do outlines (as is apparent in the plot holes and unruliness) because I've found they really shut me down. If I do a plot outline for a longer story what tends to happen is the fountain that the words come from dries up. I am a seat of the pants writer. I sit down and I "listen" to the story as it's being told and write it all down. Sometimes I hear the story while I'm not at my computer, cleaning house, driving around town, and then I sit down and write what I remember.

After the pantser version goes up I go back in and polish, if it's a story I'm planning on submitting somewhere, if it's just a write for the blog story I don't polish, I post.

So what you are getting right now with Practical Magic is the full on pantser version from a few years ago when I force wrote every day. Along with a few added things, and a little bit of polish that you haven't seen as I've taken passages out or moved them to new places. But the bottom line is you aren't imagining it, it's not really flowing smoothly. It's odd and herky jerky in places.

What my hope is, is that once I get through all of what I've already written and finish writing what I've left off, there is something here that can be cut and pasted and moved and polished and tweaked in to a full on story.

The further I get in to it the more and more I'm not sure there is. I think it really might be two or three short stories with recurring characters more than a full on novel. And if that's the case, then that's good to know as well.

But basically I wanted to let you all know not to feel badly that it's not flowing for you. It's not you, it's me. Really.

Also there will probably be a short story going up today that has NOTHING to do with Practical Magic because nothing makes other voices strong than trying to ignore them....